Kids Blog

This month we have a wide variety of new titles. Something for everyone. Whether your interest is experiments, learning the guitar or just rubbish, we have the book for you!

This book is totally rubbish / illustrated by Nik Afia.
“Meet Meggie, Rose, Oscar and Bentley. They are having a ‘totally rubbish day’ where they will reuse oodles of things and invent new stuff to play with. They’re doing this to help the environment and to become eco superheroes.” (Book Cover) One of the best books on recycling activities that I’ve seen. Great for Years 2 to 5.

First guitar tutor / Terry Burrows ; text adapted by Stephen Cole.
This book gives you tips on how to choose your first guitar and how to play it, even if you’re left handed! Great for years 5 and up.

Electric motor experiments / Ed Sobey.
“How do motors work? Using the experiments in this book, learn how to build and use your own motor! See how motors work in cars and boats. Find out what other cool things motors can do.” (Book cover) My favourite is the motor boat made out of the milk carton. Try it out! Great ideas for science fair projects here too. Perfect for all budding engineers years 2/3 and up.

I can remember World War II / Sally Hewitt.
In this book six people remember and tell you about their experinces of living through World War ll. Hear from a land girl, a child, a prisoner of war and a navy commando what is was really like. I love this book because the great layout and cool photos, cartoons and posters helped me easily learn heaps about the war. Perfect if you are interested in the Second World War and are Year 4 or up.

Terezín : voices from the Holocaust / Ruth Thomson.
This book explores the lives of Jewish people in one of the most infamous of the Nazi transit camps. Through inmates’  secret diary entries and artwork along with interviews done after the war, we get a clear picture of exactly what life was like for them in this camp.  An informative read for anyone studying or interested in the Holocaust.

What’s for dinner? : quirky, squirmy poems from the animal world / Katherine B. Hauth ; illustrated by David Clark.
Eating is a matter of life and death for us all, but it can also be weird, surprising, or just plain gross. Enjoy these twenty-nine poems which are all about the unusual and sometimes gruesome ways animals eat. Warning – do not try these eating habits at your own dinner table!

Everything you need to know about animals / Nicola Davies.

Did you know that the Peregrine falcon is the fastest animal/bird on earth, recorded at speeds of 270km/hour! This book is crammed with fantastic facts, illustrations and creative activities you can do at home.

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #2: Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #3: Soul Eater by Michelle Paver

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #4: Outcast by Michelle Paver

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

It was really good. They go around sailing and they fight in a war. They make a guy on a houseboat walk the plank. There are 2 pirates. 4 stars.

Review by Philip of Tawa

In history, and in legends, dragons were used to represent ideas.

Western dragons were a symbol of evil, or the devil. Scandinavian dragons symbolised greed or pride. But in China the dragon was a symbol of good luck, protection and fertility. Because of this, Chinese emperors used the dragon as their symbol.

Western dragons were not only used to represent evil. Dragon images were also used by kings and their armies on their war standards. They used the image of a dragon to represent power and strength.

In medieval Europe the images of dragons as representing good and bad existed at the same time. Churches had images of saints killing dragons to show good triumphing over evil. But they also had dragon gargoyles. These were stone water drains in dragon shapes, on the outside of buildings, to guard against evil spirits.

If you enjoyed this post and want to read more, you can find out more about dragons in The Dragon Companion: An Encyclopedia by Carole Wilkinson. This is an adult book, but it is okay for kids to read too. All the facts in this post were taken from this book.

Books written for kids about dragons that you might like to read are:

The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

The Indigo King by James A. Owen

The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen

The Books of Umber #2: Dragon Games by P. W. Catanese

Two of Shakespeare’s friends, actors from the King’s Men, collected together 36 of Shakespeare’s plays and had them published in a leather-bound folio. The First Folio was printed in November 1623 and sold for 1 pound.

Throughout the centuries since Shakespeare’s death his plays have been regularly performed. John Garrick, who lived in the eighteenth century, started a “Shakespeare Jubilee” in Stratford-upon-Avon that is still held today.

Another Globe Theatre has been built on the same site as Shakespeare’s old one on the banks of the River Thames in London. It opened in 1997 and there is a summer season of Shakespeare’s plays held there every year. It also contains the world’s biggest permanent exhibition about Shakespeare.

The planet Uranus has 20 moons and 15 of them are named after characters from Shakespeare’s plays.

Everyone will have heard of a character or a line from Shakespeare. Hamlet is one of the most famous characters ever created. Perhaps you have seen a Shakespeare play or a film of his plays? In 2009, theatre groups across New Zealand performed as many of Shakespeare’s plays as possible throughout the year, to celebrate 400 years since the publication of his sonnets.

The playwright Ben Jonson wrote of Shakespeare that: “He was not of an age, but for all time.”

These facts about Shakespeare are from this book:

William Shakespeare and his dramatic acts by Andrew Donkin

If you want to know more about Shakespeare, then check out these books too:

What’s so special about Shakespeare? by Michael Rosen

Shakespeare: his work & his world by Michael Rosen

William Shakespeare: The Master Playwright by Haydn Middleton

William Shakespeare: the extraordinary life of the most successful writer of all time by Andrew Gurr

William Shakespeare by Peter Hicks

The world of Shakespeare by Mistress Anna Claybourne and Mistress Rebecca Treays

Shakespeare by Peter Chrisp

If you enjoy learning about history then take a look at the My Royal Story series. These books are written in diary form and put you in the shoes of some of our great historical figures. Read about Victoria as a lonely little girl who grows up to becomes the Queen of England or Cleopatra as she prepares herself to becoming the next Pharaoh of Egypt. There are also stories about Anastasia, Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette. So take a step back in time and learn heaps while having a great read.

Elena recommends Ripple and the Wild Horses of White Cloud Station by Trudy Nicholson, a story about three girls who really love ponies.  Elena rates it 9/10.

Nina is loving the Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence and recommends these books to other kids who enjoy mysteries and history.  The series begins with The Thieves of Ostia.  Nina rates this series 9.5/10!

Shivani is really enjoying a classic - The Adventures of Milly Molly Mandy.  She rates it 10/10.

Daniel is loving all the Where’s Wally? books.  He says that the best thing about it is that every page is hilarious.  Where’s Wally? The Fantastic Journey is a great one to check out.

Joshua recommends the classic adventure story Treasure Island and he rates it 10/10.

Matthew recommends the Goosebumps series so if you enjoy chills and thrills you should definitely read some R.L. Stine!  One of the libraries latest Goosebumps books is When the Ghost Dog Howls.

1 ) Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex  Eoin Colfer (up 9)

2 ) Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief   Rick Riordan (down 1)

3 ) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal  Jeff Kinney (up 6)

4 )  Storm Warning  Linda Sue Park (NEW)

5= )Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse  Rick Riordan (no change)

5= )Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian  Rick Riordan (down 2)

5= )The Karate Mouse   Geronimo Stilton (up 3)

8 ) Field Trip to Niagara Falls  Geronimo Stilton (back again)

9= )Now  Morris Gleitzman (down 2)

9=)Percy Jackson Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (down 4)

9= )Warriors: Omen of the Stars: Night Whispers by Erin Hunter (NEW)

“Queen Victoria was Empress of half the world.  She owned palaces and huge armies.  Mighty sultans gave her precious jewels.  But she didn’t have any underpants.”

Queen Victoria’s Underpants by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley is a cheeky new picture book all about the making of the Queen’s bloomers! It’s filled with funny illustrations and the story kept me smiling right through till the end. I especially loved the author’s note which explains how women at the beginning of the 1800s hardly even wore underpants until Queen Vic made them popular – so that women could do fun stuff like bike riding and horse riding without accidentaly showing something rude! I thought this story had a neat and interesting way of teaching a bit about Victorian history.

If you are a fan of Terry Deary and the Horrible History series then you might like to take a look at this new book  Egypt A High-Speed History. This is a really cool book set out in comic-strip form with ten stories full of dreadful deeds, foul pharaohs and plenty of mummies. But be prepared – you go through these stories at hair-raising speed! You will have to move fast to see them all.